Sir, – In her article ("Transphobic terf or sex traitor? This trans rights culture war must stop", Opinion, March 17th), Iseult White comes across as someone who is trying to be conciliatory and to find common ground between conflicting views.
It is interesting that even though she agrees with two of the most radical views of the transgender rights movement (gender self-ID and the transitioning of children), White still faces extreme hostility from trans activists.
I would suggest that this is because there cannot be any common ground with a movement that portrays any attempt to explore the underlying psychological reasons for a child’s gender confusion as “conversion therapy” and that sees no issue with a child embarking on a journey of life-long medicalisation and invasive surgery.
I also don’t think there can be common ground with a movement that managed to persuade a government to introduce self-ID by stealth with no debate, no scrutiny and no review of its implications and that now wants to extend such legislation to under 18s. It is difficult to see how there can be any common ground when we are dealing with a movement that doesn’t even recognise basic biology. – Yours, etc,
ANDREA KING,
Ongar,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – While I greatly appreciate Iseult White’s Opinion piece for the light it sheds on a topic on which we’ve seen very little nuance, I must strongly object to anyone falling on the side of the medical transition of children, especially in the current climate of social contagion that’s seen a major increase in young girls identifying as trans. This is particularly worrying as parent/child relationships in these cases often become extremely strained when parents seek a more considered approach than the instant, unquestioning affirmation model now peddled with appalling negligence by extremists as being the only avenue to prevent suicide among gender questioning youth. Our kids need a good faith discussion among adults in Ireland before more harm is caused by those who wish to squelch debate for their own extremely selfish ends. – Yours, etc,
ROSEMARY WALSH
Falcarragh,
Co Donegal.